1st thing that occurred to me was this could cause dangerous unintended consequences. For instance, while hurricanes are destructive to the coastal areas, they bring much needed moisture and rainfall into the main continent. The Gulf of Mexico is a prime example. States in the SW get very hot & dry in the summer and the high pressure prevents moisture from moving in. The only thing strong enough to push that high pressure out is a hurricane. Without some rain during the summer, the land would turn into a dry dustbowl.

In any case, why would you trust manipulation of global weather patterns to someone who thought that 640kB would be more than anyone would ever need?

Of course he's in it for the money. And he'll use & abuse as much govt loopholes & taxpayer money to get rich "quick". If it were entirely his money, sure he can get all the reward, but it's not all his money. It's our money, taxpayer money, that subsidizes much of his wealth. You ask why people loathe oil whores. It's because their M.O. has been to systematically destroy renewable energy, lobby for rules & regulations that heavily favor coal & oil (e.g. virtually no responsibility for emissions), destroy stable & productive environments (e.g. mountaintop removal) and generally spread misinformation. They have been too successful at playing the lobbying game. The wealthier & bigger they get, the more monopolistic they behave, the easier it is for them to crush new potentially competitive technology, tech which almost always has a high capital investment and later becomes cheap. But that tech never gets a chance to reach the later stages because it's systematically dismantled. Anyways, your cheap oil, big cars and endless highways are not the product of the Magic Powers of Capitalism. They are and have always been taxpayer subsidized industries. Buy whatever you want, but pay for it yourself.

.. and people complain about the range of EVs. This gets what, 5 mpg? A 20 gal tank, which would be huge for a small sports car, would net 100 mi. Blech

Are you basing your energy calculations on the amount of gasoline used to drive a certain distance/speed? Gasoline, while very dense in energy, is used very inefficiently by small ICE engines (e.g. cars). It's on the order of 20% efficiency (give or take 5%, depending on how old the car is and how well it's maintained). Assuming that's your assumptions, your calculations are off by a factor of 5.

That's why the only force that will drive EV acceptance is another surge in gas prices. The average person lives in a bubble, caring not for the consequences of h(is,er) actions. Only when it hits their pocketbook do they sit up and take notice. Those poo-pooing fast charging are not up on the current state of the art in battery charging. There are extremely fast charging technologies that are safe and available now (60 Ah in a matter of minutes).

Agreed. Plenty of people drop $50k on a Lexus/BMW/Mercedes/etc pollution spewer without batting an eyelash. While this price point isn't "cheap", it significantly increases the audience that will consider electric cars.

There was a Ford Model S (2nd paragraph)
http://wikicars.org/en/Ford_Model_T

Cries for calling the Tesla sedan a Model T instead of S don't make much sense. The T was designed for rock-bottom pricing. The Tesla sedan is a luxury high-tech car.

So it doesn't really make you go blind?

I too have a solar hot water system. Mine uses evacuated tubes which are more efficient at capturing heat than your flat plate collectors (from what I can tell in your photo).

With the heavy amount of sun in TX, the solar thermal collector provides 100% of our hot water for about 8 months of the year (Apr - Nov). The coldest 4 months average about 50% of our hot water supply. In the summer the tank easily exceeds 170 deg F. As comparison, scalding temp is about 120F and most hot water heaters are set to 120-130F for energy conservation purposes. Don't worry, a thermostatic valve mixes in cold water at the tank's exit point so that the superheated water doesn't reach the faucet. Based on my rough calculations, the system will pay for itself in 6-7 years which is pretty good. After that it's money in my pocket!

Solar thermal has its optimal and sub-optimal locations, as with any resource. Northern states would not benefit as much due to the colder climates. I am always surprised in the winter when the system can get the water up to 90F when it's 35F outside (on a sunny winter day). But with lower temps and more overcast days in some northern climates, solar thermal would take alot longer to pay for itself. Now if they can just figure out a way to extract energy from snow...

Here's another way to view this. Take the simple fact that we "need" electricity and will pay for it one way or another. We can pay for generation by fossil fuels, or we can pay for it in investments in renewable energy. It's not so much how long it'll take to pay back, it's that since the money will be spent on electricity anyway, might as well put it towards solar or wind based electrical generation. At some point in time the financials break even, so you've spent money more wisely. You're also not entirely at the mercy of the utilities (read: rolling blackouts).

There's alot of factors at play here. For example, it takes energy to make solar panels. From what I've read though, the total energy output of modern solar cells far exceeds the energy needed to manufacture them. [Sorry don't have a link, but Google reveals all]

The latest CFLs I bought months ago have an advertised PF of 0.90, far better than this article's claims of ~0.50. As with any consumer product, quality varies greatly. Don't get caught up in the hype either way.

Get an IT degree if and only if you want to pursue a career in IT. From my experience, people hiring for software dev positions tend to shy away from IT graduates. Even if you're just as qualified, there's a firewall in people's brains between IT and "hard core" software dev. I s'pose that could be said of most any fields/specializations.

The most elaborate tech in the world won't beat a good ol' cat at eradicating vermin with precision. The AI, software, sensors and mechanical parts just aren't up to snuff. Cats are pretty self-reliant, sure you've got to take some care of them but in the end you'll spend alot less with the cat and have a cute work companion.

Old geek + dancing = Fa1L

If the author is curious about the authenticity of a musician's talent, attend a live concert. Ok there's the issue of lip-syncing, but it's not that difficult to tell a pre-recorded track from a truly live performance.